Month: May 2025

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: Slow to learn

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 5

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great delight that I welcome you to the sixth month of this year, the month of June 2025. I pray that God will strengthen you every day of the month to make the most of His grace in growing to be all that He wants you to be. Amen.

In the book of Hebrews, the writer tells us that it is possible for our spiritual growth to be arrested. And one of the things that can make that happen is an unwillingness on our part to make effort towards learning the truth of God, understanding it and also applying it to our lives.

Look at how he puts this:“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” (Heb 5:11-12NIV)

Did you see that? This man of God had a lot of things to share with the brethren who first received this letter about the life of faith in Christ Jesus. But it was hard for him to do so. Why? The reason, according to him, was that they were slow to learn. That, of course, does not mean that they did not have the capacity to learn and understand what they were being taught. Rather, it means that they were lazy about learning. In other words, they were not making any serious effort to understand and begin to put to work the things they were learning.

Therefore, as the man of God goes on to say in the bible text, when these people ought to be teachers already, when they ought to be taking responsibility for other new believers, they themselves still needed someone to be teaching them all over again the basic truths of God’s word. When they ought to be spiritual adults that could be entrusted with spiritual babies, they still wanted themselves to be treated as babies. Now think of how frustrating that must have been for this man of God and other leaders of these brethren. Yes, think of the kind of discouragement it must have brought to their hearts.

Unfortunately, even today, we still have many of God’s people that are lazy to learn spiritual truths and apply them. These ones are making their leaders in the church to teach the same things again and again. They are making them to correct them again and again about the way they are living their lives in bitterness, in hatred, in selfishness, in lust, in pride, in greed, in jealousy and in lack of zeal for God. Therefore, they are slowing down the ministry of their leaders and of their Christian assemblies, making it difficult for them to reach and bless more people for the Lord.

What, then, are church leaders to do to such people? How do leaders deal with those who are frustrating their effort in raising them in the will of God? Well, as the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us, at some point, they will have to stop treating these spiritually lazy believers as babies. Yes, they will have to start teaching them the things they do not want to learn and also stop treating them as spiritual babies, making them to do for themselves those things that they are reluctant to do. (Cf. Heb 6:1-3)

Now will that make such believers happy? No! In fact, it may make some of them stop coming for church meetings altogether. But whether it makes them happy or not, what has to be done has to be done for them to stop hindering the growth of their assemblies. So, if you have been a child of God for two years or more and have still refused to grow in your faith and become someone that your church leader can trust with responsibilities, you are slow to learn and spiritually lazy. And if you continue to be like that, slowing down your church leaders, they may soon begin to withdraw the attention they are giving you, so that you can stop being a spiritual baby. That, of course, will not be something pleasant for you.

So, wake up before it is too late and begin to pray to God to supply you with adequate zeal and strength to start making the most of His grace to grow spiritually. Otherwise, it will not be long at all before those who become born again after you become your teachers in the Lord.

Have a lovely June 2025.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Our attitude means a lot

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 3

“But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.”” (Judg 7:4-7NIV)

Who told Gideon that the men with him were too many? It was God. But how many were these men that God referred to as ‘too many’? They were just ten thousand. And these ten thousand men were supposed to go with Gideon in fighting the armies of the Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern people of the time, armies that the bible describes as ‘impossible to count’. Yet the Lord said of these ten thousand men, “There are still too many men.” (Cf. Judg 6:5)

Now that must have sounded ridiculous to Gideon. That was because, as we see in the account, he had just sent twenty-two thousand men home because God had said that he should do so. But God did not ask him to send those men home for no reason. He asked him to send them home because they were already trembling with fear. In fact, they themselves were willing to go home. So, they really could not have contributed much to the success of Gideon’s army, even if they had stayed. On the contrary, they would have been liabilities to him, making him to feed them for contributing nothing. (Cf. Judg 7:1-3)

But then, when this man was about getting ready to go to battle with the ten thousand men left with him, as ridiculous as doing so seemed, God spoke up again and said that the men with him were still too many. “What? God, are you really serious about this?” he must have said to himself. And God was indeed serious this time too. He was not telling him that the men with him were still too many just for the fun of it. He was telling him so because those men were actually too many for the job to be done. That means there were many among them that would add nothing to the success of his army – they were just numbers.

Well, to prove to Gideon that the ten thousand men with him were too many for the battle ahead of him, God told him to subject them to a test of attitude. Sadly, only three hundred of these men passed that test. Others failed. Why did they fail? They failed because they had no attitude or culture of vigilance.

As we see in our opening bible text, what God used in judging the fitness and readiness of these men of Gideon for battle was the way they drank water. Three hundred of them drank water with vigilance, with the consciousness that they were at the battle front and should be ready all the time for the attack of their enemies. But the remaining nine thousand and seven hundred men settled down at the stream to drink water as though nothing was at stake. So, God rejected them and asked Gideon to send them home. And he obeyed.

Now did this man of God regret sending those people home? No, he did not regret it at all. Instead, he went on to overcome all his enemies with the three hundred vigilant and serious-minded men with him. That, of course, means that he did not need more than those three hundred men for success in that battle. Any additional person to their number, then, would have been nothing but a liability, excess luggage.What is the point of all this, in any case? The first is that our trust must always be in God and not in number or population. Number can fail us. But God can never fail us.

Also, it is not every time that more people will equal more success. So, for every project we are handling, we should be certain that it is only those that will contribute immensely to its success that we bring in. Otherwise, we may find ourselves spending much more than necessary in accomplishing our desired results.

The second lesson from the account is that our attitude towards the things of life means a lot to God. The way we sit, stand, walk, sleep, eat, drink, talk, listen and even look at things matters to Him. And we too should let it matter to us. Otherwise, there are certain truths He may never reveal to us, just as there are certain assignments or positions of greatness that He may never consider us for.

So, when He, directly or through others, is drawing your attention to certain attitudes or habits you need to drop or change, you had better listen and act fast. Or else, you may be disqualified from being a part of the celebration of certain victories in this life and in God’s heavenly kingdom.

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Single Message Series

Title: Boundaries to respect (b)

Series: See to it

We have been looking at certain instructions we are given in the book of Hebrews, chapters 3 and 12, on watching over one another. And we are looking at the things we need to pay attention to in order to carry out the instructions.

Let me show the instructions again, from Hebrews, chapter 3, verse 12:“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:12-13NIV)Then, in chapter 12, from verse 15, we are told this:“See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.

Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears he could not change what he had done.” (Hebrews 12:15-17NIV)Those are the instructions we are given in Scriptures about watching over one another. And I began to show you that there are boundaries we need to pay attention to, boundaries that we must not cross while trying to fulfil them. The first is that we cannot help people beyond what they want. We cannot fellowship with any believer beyond what they want.

So, we have to respect their privacy. And we have to respect their right to make certain decisions for themselves. Now we may not be okay with the decisions or choices our brethren make for themselves. But we must respect their right to make decisions for themselves. We must not try to run their lives for them. We must not try to take the place of God in their lives. We can counsel people. We can pray for people, something we will still talk about later. But we must respect their right to privacy.

And we must respect their right to make decisions for themselves.Well, the bottom line is that we can fellowship with people only to the degree that the permit us; we can only help them to the degree that they permit us. Otherwise, we may ruin our chances of helping them or destroy whatever opportunity that might have been created by God for us to help them. There is another side to all this. The first side we looked at has to do with recognizing the boundaries people have placed around them, so that we do not cross them while we are making effort to help them or to fulfil the word of God that tells us to watch over one another.

The other side of it has to do with watching ourselves while we are trying to watch over others. For instance, Paul told the Ephesians elders of the necessity of watching themselves, so that they would be able to do well in watching over the flock God had placed under their care. Look at how Luke puts this from verse 28 of Acts 20: “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28NIV)The first thing Paul says here is, “Keep watch over yourselves.” This, of course, would mean that the elders must keep watch over one another.

Also, it would mean that each of them must keep watch over himself. If we do not learn to keep watch over ourselves, we will not be able to keep watch over others. We cannot give what we do not have.He says something similar to Timothy in his first letter to him. He says:“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1Timonthy 4:16NIV)What is his instruction to Timothy here? It is that he must watch his life and his doctrine closely. First, he has to watch his life and pay attention to it. He has to pay attention to what is going on in his relationships.

Then he must pay attention to his doctrine and see to it that it is in line with the will of God. And Paul says that as he does this, he will be able to save both himself and his hearers. Thus, Timothy has to be able to save himself first before he will be able to save others. In like manner, I must be able to save myself first, if I will be able to save others. This, of course, does not mean that I have the power to save myself. I do not. Only God can save us. And if we do not count on Him for our salvation, we will not be saved at all.

But it is important for me to take my own salvation more seriously than the salvation of any other person I may be relating to or may want to help, as far as spiritual matters are concerned. It is when I am able to keep myself safe by taking advantage of the grace of God that I will be able to keep others as well safe through His grace.What we are saying, then, is that it is important that in making effort to watch over one another, we do not lose our own souls or other beautiful relationships we have.

Yes, it is important that in trying to help others we do not become a part of the problem we are trying to prevent or solve. Look at what Paul says along these lines in Galatians, chapter 6, verse 1:“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” (NIV) Did you pay attention to that? If someone is caught in a sin, those who live by the Spirit, that is, those who are spiritual, should restore the person gently.

Now remember that we have a duty to prevent any of us from being caught in any sin. That is, in fact, what we have been dealing with all along. But sometimes, for various reasons, people may be caught in a sin. I mean that regardless of what we do for our brethren in watching over them and praying for them, some may still be caught in a sin.Jesus prayed for Peter and the rest of the apostles. Yet that did not stop them from falling away for a while. But because He had prayed for them, God was able to restore them.

So, we are told here that if any of us is caught in a sin, we are to restore them. How are we to restore them? We are to restore them gently. Then, while we are restoring the person, we are told to watch ourselves. Otherwise, we too may be tempted. In other words, we too can fall where the person has fallen. We can, in fact, fall into the same sin that the person has fallen into. So, in trying to help one another, we should not do so with a mindset that we are better than the person we are trying to help or that we know much better than the person or that we cannot make the mistakes they have made.

We can make the very same mistakes they have made. We can err where they have erred. In fact, we may even do worse than they have done, if we will not watch ourselves.So, we need to pay attention to our lives, as we are seeking to watch over other believers. And this is why we too must recognize those boundaries that we must not cross in our lives while we are trying to help others. We must know the degree to which we can help others. We must know where we can help them and where we cannot help them. We must not know how we can help them and how we cannot help them. And we must know the extent to which we can help them in their walk of faith.

All this is important because there are people whose hearts are not right. And because their hearts are not right, it does not matter what form of spiritual help we are offering them, it will not work. Such people really do not want our help. They may give us the impression that they want our help. They may give us the impression that they are interested in the things we are doing for them or with them. They may give us the impression that they are excited to have us share the word of God with them, pray with them and counsel them. They may give us the impression that they too want to grow in the things of God.

But their hearts are full of dirt. And unless the Spirit of God reveals to us what is in their hearts, we will not know it. However, if we will follow the word of God in relating to everyone, we will be able to keep ourselves safe from those who may want to injure or corrupt us while we are seeking to watch over their souls.For example, we are told of Simon the sorcerer in the bible. He claimed to have become born again like other people in his city and began to follow Philip up and down. In fact, this man must have joined Philip in praying for others, in following up the brethren and in doing other things pertaining to ministering to God’s people. He must also have sat down like others in listening to Philip teach the word of God. He may even have been asking questions like others to know the truths of the Christian faith.

In short, Simon showed himself to be genuinely interested in what Philip was doing for the spiritual health of the people in that Samaritan city. (Cf. Acts 8:5-24)However, when Peter and John came to the place, the evil in his heart was revealed. It was brought out in the open that what he had wanted all along was popularity. He had been a very popular person in the place until Philip came and started preaching Jesus and doing all kinds of miracles. So, his popularity vanished and nobody paid attention to him again.

Now this man wanted his popularity back. He wanted people to be coming to him or running to him, as they used to. And he felt that he could used the power of God to do that. So, he offered the apostles money for the gift of God. You can see, then, that his heart was not right. Because his heart was not right, all that he was doing was a lie. And because those he was relating to were spiritual, they could detect the evil in him and put him where he belonged.In like manner, we have people like Simon in the church today whose hearts are not right. Their intentions are not right.

So, it does not matter how much spiritual help you are trying to offer them, it can only be a waste. I remember a brother that we used to attend a particular Christian assembly together. He initially showed himself as one that wanted to know God and live for him. But his heart was not right. He was, in fact, a very terrible liar. Most of the things he told us about himself was a lie. In fact, his name too may have been a lie. But I did not bother to check that out.

Why, in any case, was this young man in the church? What was he after? Well, he wanted the money of the church. He also wanted to prey on the unsuspecting sisters in the church, so that he could rip them of their money and also mess them up sexually. So, he was greedy, immoral, deceitful and even violent. But God exposed him. God exposed him because we were relating to him in love. And at some point, his sins found him out. So, we do have individuals like such in the church. That is why we have to be very careful in relating to other brethren, so that we do not become a part of the problem we are seeking to prevent or solve.

Paul, speaking to Timothy in his second letter, speaks of certain individuals who are ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (2Timothy 3:6-7). Why? The reason was that their hearts are not right. For instance, all that some people are after is to corrupt others, for they are loaded with corruption. Remember that the bible speaks of people whose eyes are full of adultery (2Peter 2:14). That is real. And such people may come close to you, giving you the impression that they want to know God or learn the ways of God or do the things of God.

But all they are after is how they will be sexually involved with you. And we have seen cases in which pastors, church leaders and some wonderful people of God fell into the sexual traps of certain individuals that they were trying to help spiritually.Now we may be quick to blame such people. But the fact remains that any of us could become a prey of such individuals, if we will not watch ourselves and our relationships with other believers. So, just as we are told not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, we must also understand that we must not be unequally yoked with believers.

How, then, do we become unequally yoked with believers? First, any kind of relationship with a believer that is preventing us from serving God the way we hurt to serve Him is unclean. That means you have to watch it and do the needful about it. And if you cannot clean it, you have to drop it.What I am saying is that if you find that your involvement with a believer that you are helping spiritually is preventing you from doing the will of God, praying, studying the word of God and taking church meetings seriously, you must watch and deal with that relationship.

That kind of person is most likely not someone you can help spiritually. That person may just want to drag you down. Also, any kind of relationship with a believer that makes you irresponsible in doing your duties in other legitimate relationships you have or that is preventing you from taking any of your responsibilities seriously has become unclean. Therefore, you need to deal with it. You can see that you must watch what those that you are trying to help spiritually are leading you to do or get involved in. If they are leading you to be irresponsible in dealing with your family, in handling your business or in handling your Christian responsibilities, they may just want to drag you down.

You must, therefore, watch yourself with them. Their hearts may not be clean. And if you pay attention to them, taking advantage of the word of God and prayer, you will be able to learn the truth about them.Well, the point I am making is that we have to watch ourselves, as we are trying to help one another in our walk of faith, and not allow anyone to make us a part of the problem we are trying to solve or prevent. Jude, in closing, also tells us something along these lines. Look at it from verse 22:“Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” (Jude 1:22-23NIV)

Did you see that? There are people we need to snatch from the fire of destruction. And God expects us to take advantage of His grace to do so. There are also those that we need to show mercy and rescue from their errors. But we are told to watch ourselves, as we are trying to show them mercy. The words are: “…hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” That means we must not ignore the corruption in anybody’s life while trying to help them spiritually. Otherwise, we may become corrupted ourselves.If people’s hearts are right, the help we are offering them will work – it will lift them up and establish them in the will of God.

But if their hearts are not right, what will happen in the long run is that they will drag us down, if we are not careful. So, we need to be careful, as we are trying to keep watch over one another. And we can do that by first keeping watch over ourselves. Our own safety is most important. It is when we are safe spiritually that we will be able to save others.

Let us pray.

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: Focus on what God is doing

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 4

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to the last week of the month of May 2025. My prayer is that all the good works of God concerning your life will be perfected, according to every day’s need, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, tells us this about God: “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose.” (Phil 2:13NIV) Did you see that? God is working in the lives of all of us who are His children. Why? It is so that He can fulfil His good purpose for our lives.

That means God is not idle. He is not sleeping or folding His arms, while we are working hard and struggling with Satan and his demons in order to amount to something in life. Instead, He also is working in our lives to see to it that all His good intentions for us come to pass and that all our effort in life does not go to waste.

Now we may not see what God is doing in certain areas of our lives. It may not even appear that He is working in our lives at all. That, however, does not mean that He is not working. His word tells us that He is working in our lives. And His word is true all the time. So, whether we can see what He is doing to fulfil His good purpose in our lives or not, we should just believe what His word says and begin to act accordingly.

Then, if we do not give up, we will at the right time see manifestations of His good works in our lives.Unfortunately, many of us love to pay more attention to what Satan and his demons are doing to ruin our lives than to what God is doing to make us who we ought to be in life. In fact, all that some of us often focus on is what is Satan is doing. We don’t look out at all for what God is doing. And that is one of the reasons we are not witnessing His glory and a perfection of His good works in our lives as it ought to be.

Truly, Satan’s works are real. Sicknesses, diseases, poverty, accidents and death are real. Also, pains and sorrow are real. And these things can be so real to us that we will think there is no escape from them for us. That, of course, is what Satan wants. He wants us to think that there is no escape from the things he is using to afflict us. And the moment we begin to think like that, we will turn our eyes away from what God is doing to rescue and lift us up.

For example, when Moses came to rescue the children of Israel from Egypt, their afflictions were multiplied by the Egyptians. So, even though God was already at work on their behalf to set them free, they would not pay attention to what He was doing at all; all that they paid attention to were their afflictions. And if Moses too had been like them, paying attention only to their afflictions instead of focusing on what God was doing, their deliverance from Egypt would surely have been postponed to ‘only God knows when’. (Cf. Exodus 5)

But though Moses could see the afflictions of these Israelites and was not happy about them, he did not focus his attention on them. Instead, he focused his attention on God and on what He was doing to save them. So, he was able to secure their deliverance from Egypt when the time was ripe.In like manner, even though we can see all that Satan is doing to harm us and are not happy about it, our focus must not be on it at all.

Otherwise, that is what we are going to be wasting our time talking about. And that will bring discouragement to our hearts. But if our focus is on God and on what He is doing in our lives, regardless of what Satan may be doing to hurt us, our hearts will be daily strengthened to patiently wait until He fulfils His good purpose in every area of our lives at the right time. So, focus your attention on what God is doing in your life and all around you. And you will never again miss any manifestation of His glory.

Have a glorious week.

Categories
Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

Title: Choosing Abimelech

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 2

“When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech used it to hire reckless adventurers, who became his followers.” (Judg 9:3-5NIV)

Who was Abimelech, the one mentioned in our opening text? He was the son that Gideon’s concubine bore for him. And what was so important about him that God cared to put his account in the bible for us? It was the fact that he was the first man to ever attempt to rule as king over the nation of Israel. (Cf. Judges 9:6)

Now, as we also see in the bible, when the people wanted Abimelech’s father, Gideon, to become their king, he frankly and humbly rejected their proposition. Look at how the bible puts that: “But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”” (Judg 8:23-24NIV)

Did you see that? This man said that neither he nor any of his sons would be king over these people. Why? The reason was that he knew that the Lord is their king. Yes, he saved them from their enemies. But that was because the Lord called, sent and empowered him to do so. So, he knew that it would be foolish of him to try to take the place of God in their lives as their king. And even though he had seventy legitimate sons, none of them attempted to be king over the Israelites. Why? He had raised them well enough to know their place in the lives of the people. (Cf. Judges 6-8)

In like manner, we too must know our proper place in people’s lives. God may have used us or be using us to help them in various ways. That, however, does not make us God. We should, therefore, never attempt to take His place in anyone’s life. Otherwise, sooner or later, we will surely find ourselves facing challenges never meant for us in life. We may even end up undoing all the good God has used us to do.

So, let us be mindful of ourselves.In any case, as I pointed out before, Gideon had another son called Abimelech, the son of his concubine. And apparently, this son of his was not raised by him as others had been raised. That, of course, must have been the reason the thought of using his father’s legacy as a leverage to become king over Israel could enter his head. Unfortunately, the people of his mother’s side welcomed the idea and gave him a lot of money to hire ruthless men to accomplish his ambition.

Why? Well, as we see in our opening text, their reason was that he was related to them. In other words, he was their relative.So, the people of Shechem did not choose Abimelech as their leader because he was an upright, wise and godly man, one that righteous people could flourish under his leadership. Instead, they chose him because he was their relative. And because they did, a scoundrel was empowered to destroy all his father’s seventy sons (except his youngest son that escaped) and also all the good works God has used him to do for his nation.

Then, much later, he too and his sponsors went on to destroy themselves. What a pity! (Cf. Judges 9)What is the point of all this, at any rate? It is that we need to learn to choose our leaders for the right reasons. Someone may be our relative, a friend, a neighbour, a colleague at work or in school or a church leader. It does not mean that they have the right qualities to occupy certain leadership positions.

And if we should allow sentiments to lead us to choose and sponsor them to occupy a position that they have no ability or character to handle, we may someday realise that we have chosen Abimelech and empowered the devil himself to afflict and destroy much good. Then, like Abimelech and the people of Shechem, we too and the bad choice of leadership we have made may end up labouring hard to destroy ourselves.

Now would something like that not be bad and distressing? It would! But it is something that is happening in many places all around the world, even today. People and the leaders they have chosen for themselves are cursing themselves and also labouring hard to destroy themselves. And if we want to put a stop to a repetition of such mess, we had better stop allowing sentiments to drive us to choose Abimelech.

Copyright © 2025, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

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Single Message Series

Title: Anniversary admonitions

Series: Single sermons

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We thank God for another opportunity He has given to us as an assembly to be celebrating our thirteenth year anniversary, our thirteenth year of meeting together as an assembly in this town. We thank Him for what He has done in us, for us, among us and through us in these thirteen years. He has been good and kind to us. And we will surely leave out some time to take testimonies in the course of this meeting.

But before we do that, let me quickly encourage you with some things about church growth, especially as it concerns our assembly.Now the church cannot grow beyond the growth of each of us. In other words, the overall growth of our assembly is hinged on the individual growth of each member of the assembly. In other words, each of us must take very seriously our spiritual growth and development in the kingdom.

It is unfortunate that many of God’s people think it is only the leaders of their assembly that need to be making effort towards spiritual growth and development. They think Christianity is all about joining a church, bearing a bible name or having a personal copy of the bible. But Christianity goes beyond all of such things. And being born again goes beyond confessing the lordship of Jesus. You have to grow in Him; you have to develop in your faith in Him.

See, it does not matter how sound or spiritually developed a church leader is, if members of his assembly are not following in his steps and making effort to grow spiritually, they are going to limit that assembly. That is because the growth of that assembly is not hinged on the growth of the leader alone; it is also hinged on the growth of the individual member of the assembly.

That is why, in Colossians, chapter 2, Paul says this to us:“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7NIV)

Did you see that? The receiving of Christ Jesus as our Lord is the starting point in our spiritual journey with Him. That is how we become born again. That is how we become new creations. But everything does not end with the receiving of Jesus as our Lord. We also have to continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him. That means we have to begin to take advantage of His grace to be established in Him, to grow in our walk of faith.

There is really a lot to say about what Paul says here. But I just want to encourage you that having become a child of God, having been born again, you need to continue to live your life in Him and to take your spiritual growth and development very seriously. It is not going to happen automatically, if you will not commit yourself to things that will make you grow. You will not grow by accident.

No child of God grows by accident or automatically, just as no baby born grows by accident or automatically. If the things that are supposed to be done to a baby are not done to him, he will not grow all by himself. Instead, his growth will be arrested. In fact, he may even die in infancy.The same thing is applicable to spiritual growth. We have to be devoted to those things that will result in our spiritual growth and development.

We have to be devoted to be doing those things that will result in spiritual growth and fruitfulness. We have to be devoted to doing those things that will make us overflow with thankfulness everyday. A child of God ought to daily overflow with thankfulness. But no child of God will automatically overflow with thankfulness. It is spiritual growth that results in being thankful and being joyous.

There are Christians that are always complaining instead of being thankful. And there are Christians are often sad instead of overflowing with joy. The main reason is that they are not growing. And why are they are not growing spiritually? They have not seen the need to grow. Once you see the need to grow spiritually, you will begin to take steps that will result in your growth. Once you see the need for your spiritual development, you will begin to deliberately take steps that will result in your development.

Now as each of us takes seriously our spiritually growth and development, our church will grow in fruitfulness and in usefulness. As I said before, the growth of our assembly is not hinged on the growth of our leaders alone; the spiritual development of our assembly is not hinged on the spiritual development and health of the leaders alone. The spiritual health of our assembly cannot be left to our church leaders alone.

If our church will grow to be all that God wants her to be, if she will grow to be a model to all the assemblies of God in the land, that is, in life, in love, in faith, in speech, in the grace of giving and in purity, then, all of us must take our personal growth very seriously.

Moses, for instance, was a great and sound leader of God’s people. But the people that He brought of Egypt limited him. They made him needlessly spend forty years in the wilderness, wandering with them. He had no intention of wandering in life. But those people made him wander because they made no serious and deliberate effort towards spiritual growth and development. Their unwillingness to grow in the things of God affected Moses as well.In Psalm 103, verse 7, the bible says, “He made his ways known to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.” (NIV)

Think about that. Moses knew the ways of God. So, he was able to walk with Him faithfully. But those Israelites that he led out of Egypt were not serious about knowing the Lord. They only wanted to enjoy His miracles. There was a time God spoke to them, and they told Moses to tell Him not to speak to them directly again but to communicate with them through him. That means they were not ready to grow in the things of God. No wonder many of them lost their lives in the wilderness. Moses could not lead them into the land promised by God to them. (Cf. Exodus 20:18-19)

In like manner, if our leaders will be able to lead us to the places promised to us by God, if they will be able to lead us to where God wants us to be, we must take our personal growth and development very seriously. Now there are things we must devote ourselves to in order to grow spiritually. The early church members devoted themselves to these things and their devotion to them resulted in their growth.

Yes, their devotion to those things made God continually add to their number. God saw that it was safe for Him to add to their number. He saw that they were spiritually healthy enough to add to their number.If we too will have God continually add to our number, He must see us as spiritually healthy enough. I am not talking about the addition that comes through the use of human wisdom and schemes.

Rather, I am talking about the addition that God Himself sponsors. People use all kinds of schemes today to add to the number of their churches. But if we want God to add to our number, if we want Him to multiply us, He must see us as spiritually sound and healthy enough.Look at what Luke says about what the members of the church of those days devoted themselves:“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.” (Acts 2:42-43NIV)

What were these people devoted to? They were devoted to the word of God. They were devoted to fellowship. They were devoted to sharing meals together. They were also devoted to prayer. That means they took these things very seriously. And because of that, they grew spiritually and also increased in number. Also, because of their devotion to these things, God was able to mightily use the apostles among them. When brethren are yielded to God, it is easy for their leaders to minister grace to them. But when they are not yielded to God, even if when their leaders are praying for them, there is no guarantee that the blessings of those leaders will rest on them.

Well, as we begin another year of fellowship together, I want you to be devoted to these things we just saw in the bible. Be devoted to the word of God. Be devoted to fellowship. Be devoted to sharing all good things with the brethren. And be devoted to prayer. In short, I want you to take your personal growth very seriously. That is because if you are not growing spiritually, God cannot rely on you to bless anybody. How, then, is that going to be a blessing to the church? It won’t. And we want you to be a blessing to us.

My prayer is that God will strengthen you to daily take your spiritual growth very seriously, in Jesus’ name. Amen.Happy celebration.

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FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025 Pastor's Desk

Title: That grace may increase

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: vol 14, NO 3.

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to another week of the month of May 2025. My prayer is that God will rid your life of everything that is working against the full expression of His grace in your life, so that you can be all that He wants you to be and also enjoy all that He wants you to enjoy in life. Amen.

Now one of the things that hinder the manifestation of the grace of God in the lives of His people is sin. What kind of sin? Any kind of sin! That means just as sexual immorality can hinder the manifestation of the grace of God in the lives of His people, so also can greed, theft, bitterness, drunkenness, jealousy and slander hinder it.Unfortunately, many of us do not have this understanding.

We think it is only obvious sins like adultery, drunkenness and theft can hinder the manifestation of God’s grace in our lives. But any kind of sin can hinder the manifestation of His grace in our lives. That is why Paul asks this question of us all: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” And his answer is, “No, we cannot go on living in sin and expect more of God’s grace in our lives.”Why is that so? The reason is that it takes the grace of God to walk in victory over sin. And He has already freely provided for us the grace to do so (Titus 2:11).

If we, then, are not walking in victory over every kind of sin, it means that we are not making adequate use of His grace. Therefore, we should not expect more manifestation of His grace in our lives. What we are saying is that for us to witness greater or more manifestation of God’s grace in our lives, we need to first begin to make adequate use of whatever measure of grace He has already given us. If we are not making adequate use of the grace He has already given us, He will not give us more.

Yes, people may pray for more grace for us. But that prayer will only work when we are using the grace that has already been provided by God for us, adequately and appropriately.Look at Samson, for example. When he began to indulge in sexual immorality, did God multiply His grace that was in his life? No! On the contrary, at some point, that grace stopped working.

So, he fell into the hands of his enemies and was seriously messed up. And that is showing us that we cannot be using the grace of God to live a life that is contrary to His will and expect it to always work well for us or to increase in our lives.

However, we can expect God’s grace in our lives to diminish in manifestation or to altogether stop working, if we are not using it at all or if we are abusing it. And that will put us at the mercy of the devil. If we, then, do not want that to happen to us, we must learn to make adequate use of His grace given to us in living in victory over sin and in doing the good works He wants us to do. And we can do this by giving ourselves to His word, prayer and Christian fellowship.

My prayer is that our hearts will be strengthened everyday to make the most of all the grace God has already given to us, so that He can continually multiply it for us to be all that He wants us to be in life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.Have a lovely week.

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Fire in my Bones Youth for Jesus

It is simply a joke

fire in my bones
fire in my bones

Series: Youth for Jesus

Number: Vol. 8, No. 1

“If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.” (James 1:26NIV)

Who is James talking to in our opening text? He is talking to those who consider themselves to be religious. And do we have people who think of themselves as religious? We do! Yes, we have people who see themselves as men and women who know God, love God, worship God and have God’s ears.

Now is anything wrong with seeing ourselves in that light? Well, James does not say that something is wrong with seeing ourselves as those who know God, who know where He lives and who also know what He eats. But he tells us that this view of ourselves ought to have some serious impact on what comes out of our mouths. Otherwise, we are simply lying to ourselves about knowing God and worshiping Him. That means our religion is worthless.

Sadly, we have many today who think of themselves as God’s deputies but who exercise no control whatsoever over what comes out of their mouths. These ones say anything that comes to their minds, without weighing it to see whether it is good or bad or whether it honours God or dishonours Him. And if anyone tries to correct them or to show them that they are supposed to be talking like those who know God and not like little devils, they will not be slow at all to abuse or curse the person as well.

Now perhaps you are like that. You can abuse or curse anyone and anything. You can even get the dead to be stirred up in their graves through your abusive words. Yet you call yourself a Christian or a child of God. The word of God is coming to you now and telling you that you are self-deceived. Truly, you may think that you know God and are serving Him.

But you are simply a joker. Your religion is worthless. In other words, what you are doing in your worship of God makes no sense to Him at all. And that is because your so-called relationship with Him has not yet changed you.See, when a man comes into a relationship with God, the first obvious change that will be seen in his life has to do with the way he talks. He will no longer want to speak carelessly or loosely. Instead, he will want to speak love and grace.

Yes, this may initially prove difficult for him to do, especially if he has been a loose talker all his life. But he will begin to make effort by the power of the Spirit of God in him to speak differently. Yes, he will begin to make effort to show through his words that he is no longer a sinner. And if he continues like that and does not stop, it will not be long before he realises that loose taking is no longer an option for him.

So, if you are still loose in the way you talk, if nothing appears to be too corrupt or unclean for you to say with your mouth, you are either saying that you don’t know God at all or have utterly forgotten that you have been saved by Him. And it does not matter what religious title or titles you carry around on your head, your religion is worthless – it is simply a joke.If you, then, do not want your religion to remain a joke, you have to begin to put a tight rein on your tongue.

That means you have to now begin to teach your tongue not to say just anything that comes to your mind. Yes, impure, corrupt and hurtful things may still want to come out of your mouth. But you must not allow them to come out of it, for your tongue is meant to speak only those things that glorify God and also edify men, not things that dishonour them.

My prayer is that you will daily find in God all the strength you need to keep these words in mind and to also begin to put them to work in your life and affairs. Amen.

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MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTS Message Transcripts 2025 Single Message Series

SEE TO IT (8)BOUNDARIES TO RESPECT (A)

Date: May 04, 2025

Series: See to it

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We have been looking at a number of things on the relevance of taking certain instructions given to us in Hebrews, chapters 3 and 12, very seriously. These instructions have to do with watching over one another, so that we do not go astray or fall short of the grace of God. This, of course, has led us to looking at various things that we need to pay attention to, if we will be able to freely help one another stay in the truth and not become a part of the problem we are trying to prevent or solve. And the last thing we looked at on this note had to do with relating to one another only on the basis of the word of God, not on the basis of human traditions or superstitions, not on the basis of mysticism and not on the basis of our feelings, idiosyncrasies or experiences.

Our traditions may be good. And our experiences may be okay to teach others. But we must use these things in relating to people only to the degree that they agree with the word of God. Wherever they do not agree with the word of God, we must discard them in our dealings with people. Otherwise, we may end up judging those that God has not judged or condemning those that He has not condemned.Now there is another thing we need to pay attention to in relating to one another, if we will be able to truly watch over one another and keep ourselves from going astray. This has to do with recognizing those boundaries that we must not cross in people’s lives. There are boundaries we must not cross in our dealings with people. These boundaries may not be obvious. But they are there. And in relating to people, we must recognize and respect them. Otherwise, we may not be able to help them in any serious way or end up becoming a part of the problem we are trying to prevent or solve.

One of such boundaries is people’s right to privacy. The Lord Jesus has called us to live in freedom. So, we must allow every child of God to enjoy their freedom, as long as they are not using it as cover up for evil (Galatians 5:13; 1Peter 2:16). The point I am making is that we can only help people to do degree that they permit us. So, we must know when and where people want us in their lives and when and where they do not want us in their lives. We must not attempt to impose ourselves on anyone. We must not be close to people beyond want they want or what they permit. If someone has set certain boundaries in their lives that they do not want you to cross, then, you must respect their right to privacy.

In 2Corinthians, chapter 6, Paul says this from verse 11: “We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts also.” (2Corinthians 6:11-13NIV)Paul is counseling the Corinthian brethren here to remove the boundaries they have placed around their lives, so that he and his ministry companions could freely affect them.

According to him, they are not withholding their affection from these Corinthians. Instead, they have freely opened wide their hearts to them, so that they could share their lives with them. So, it is only fair that the Corinthians do likewise. And that is what Paul is placing his fingers on here. But you can see that Paul is not trying to impose himself on these brethren. Yes, he was the one that God used in starting their church. And he had spiritual authority over them and could command them to do those things that are right for them to do. Yet he would not impose himself on them.

Instead, he wanted them to realize the need for them to consciously open wide their hearts to them, so that they may freely and fully affect them in their walk of faith. And that was because he respected their right to privacy.In like manner, it is important that we respect people’s right to privacy. It is important that we respect their right and freedom to choose what they want and do not want, to choose how we help them and the extent to which we help them in their faith. So, if someone does not want us to help them in certain areas of their lives, we have to respect their decision and stay away from those areas of their lives that they do not want us to touch.

Yes, we may know exactly what they need in those areas of their lives. But if they will not permit us to help them, we will have to let them be until God opens their eyes to see that they need us to help them in those areas of their lives.Look at how Paul relates to Philemon in his letter, as an example of the need for us to learn to respect the rights of others to make certain decisions for themselves: “Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul – an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus – that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. I am sending him – who is my very heart – back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel.

But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary.” (Philemon 8-14NIV)The things Paul says here are in favour of a man called Onesimus, who used to be a slave of Philemon. The man ran away from his master and was meant to be severely punished for doing so. But as God would have it, he met Paul at some point and become born again. Not only did he become born again, he also grew in his faith so much so that he became a very dear son in the faith to Paul. Naturally, Paul would want to keep this young man to himself. But he knew it would not be right for him to do so, since he knew his master, Philemon. The right thing for him to do would be to send him back to his master for reconciliation. Yes, he could just write a letter to his master, using his spiritual authority over him to command him to let Onesimus remain with him. But he knew that would be an abuse of his spiritual authority and his relationship with Philemon. He knew that if he did that, he would be trampling on the man’s rights.

So, he would not do so but would instead appeal to the love of Christ in Philemon. And that is what we see in this passage.Now is it the will of God for people to keep slaves? No! But during that era, God did not contend with humanity about making slaves of themselves, though He forbade His own people, the Israelites, from making slaves of their own brethren. Why did God not contend with people on this matter? The reason was the hardness of their hearts. God knew that unless people were recreated and changed from within, telling them not to make slaves of themselves could only fall on deaf ears. But as the gospel prevailed in the world, slavery diminished in acceptance.

And today, slavery is no longer socially or politically acceptable in any part of the world.In any case, at that time, there was no law against having slaves. So, Paul would not trample on Philemon’s right to own slaves. But since Philemon was a child of God, he appealed to the love of God in him in dealing with Onesimus, his run-away slave. As I pointed out already, Paul could have commanded this man to forgive Philemon and to also release him to him as a helper. But he respected his right and wanted him to function on the basis of the love of God in his heart. So, he appealed to him to welcome back Onesimus and reconcile with him, out of love for Christ. That way, all of them could continue to freely fellowship together as members of the same family, the family of God.You can see that even though Paul was an apostle, he respected the right of Philemon to make his own decision about the matter of Onesimus.

We too should learn to respect people’s rights to make decisions about their lives. We should not treat them as morons and keep trampling on their rights to decide for themselves, just because we have spiritual authority over them. Instead, we should respect their freedom to make choices that they believe are right for them. And we should respect their right to privacy.Yes, we may know what is right for others to do in certain situations of their lives. But we must still respect their rights to choose what to do for themselves. We can encourage them. We can warn them. We can open their eyes to see the will of God for them. But as long as they have come of age, we must learn to respect their right to choose for themselves whatever they want in life. That way, they will not do anything because they are forced or manipulated or threatened to do it but because they want to do it.

What I am saying, all along, is that if someone does not want us to help them in certain areas in their walk with God, we just have to let them be. We see our Lord Jesus dealing with us in this same manner. He does not cross whatever boundaries we set for Him in our lives. Look at what is written to us in the bible about this: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20NIV)The Lord is not speaking to unbelievers here but to believers.

Interestingly, often, this Scripture is used to address unbelievers to give Jesus a chance in their lives. And that is not a bad thing. But in the context, the words were originally said to believers and not to unbelievers. These believers were shutting the Lord Jesus out of certain areas of their lives. So, He had to tell them to open the door for Him to come into those areas of their lives and fellowship with them there.Well, He is saying the same thing to us today. He is telling us to allow Him in every area of our lives. Yes, He lives in us by His Spirit. But He may be living in us as guest, a visitor. There are, in fact, many believers who think of the Spirit of God as a guest in their lives.

They do not see Him as the owner of their lives. But He is the owner of our lives. And we must treat Him as such.However, He will not force Himself on us. So, the right thing for us to do is to willingly offer ourselves to Him. The word God tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God, holy and acceptable, which is our logical act of worship.

In other words, the willing offering of our bodies to God is the right thing for us to do. We have to realize that it is the right thing for us to do and do it.Well, we see Jesus telling the brethren in Laodicea that He is standing at the door and knocking and that if anyone hears His voice and opens the door, He will come in and fellowship with that person and they with Him. But what if the person does not hear the Lord knocking at all? He won’t force His way in. Instead, He will keep knocking until the person hears and opens the door. Or what if the person hears and does not open the door for the Lord? He won’t still force His way in.

He will just let the person be until he realizes the need for him to open the door for his Lord to come in and fellowship with him.So, if you do not want the Lord to address you about your marriage, for instance, He will let you be. But you can be sure that you will be a failure in that area of your life. If you don’t want Him to address you about your finances, He will let you be. Or if you are stingy and selfish and do not want Him to talk about these things, what is He going to do? He will let you be. Even if it is your health that you don’t want Him to touch, He will let you be. He will not force Himself on you. If He had been forcing Himself on all men, then, all men would have been born again already.Truly, the Lord wants to fellowship with us in every area of our lives. He does not want us to live alone in any area of our lives. That, in fact, is what God has called us to. He has called us into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ (1Corinthians 1:9).

He has called us to live with Him and for Him to live with us. He does not want us to walk through life alone. Instead, He wants us to have His companionship every moment of our lives.However, we may not have His companionship every moment of our lives. That, of course, will not be because it is unavailable. Rather, it will be because we are not permitting Him in our lives. That is how the Lord functions. That is how we also must function. We must learn to knock the door of people’s lives instead of badging in. Jesus knocks before coming into any area of our lives.

Why does He do that? That is respect. He is showing that He respects our rights to choose for ourselves. He may not respect us for the choices we have made. But He respects our right to choose whatever we want to choose for ourselves. We may choose badly. We may choose what will destroy us. But since He has given us the right to making choices for ourselves in certain areas of life, He knows that He has to respect our right to make those choices.Just think about this: God has given us the right to make our own choices in certain areas of our lives. We, of course, do not have absolute rights to choose in life. There are things that are chosen for us by God or by people. But there are areas of life in which we have been given the right to choose for ourselves. And God is not taking that right away from us. He is not trampling on it at all. He will always respect it. He will not contend with us in using it. But He is always concerned that we choose right.

How painful it must have been for Him, then, to watch us use the right He has given to us to hurt ourselves and others badly? Well, God will continue to come to us, asking us to open the door of every area of our lives for Him, so that He can come in and lead us to choose right. He will show us what is right and what is wrong and tell us to choose what is right. He will show us the difference between life and death and also show us to choose life. He will show us the difference between health and death, between wealth and poverty, and also lead us to choose that which is right for us. In like manner, as I have been saying, we must respect people’s privacy and also their right to choose whatever they want for themselves. It may hurt us badly that people are making the wrong choices.

But we still have to respect their right to choose for themselves, if they will not permit us to help them choose right. A man once told me that he had resolved to maintain a private life and to shut those of us who were his brethren out of his home. And I told him right there that I would respect his choice, even though I knew it was a terrible one. I also went on to inform the brethren to respect his privacy and not visit him uninvited. Now was I happy to do that? No! But that’s what the Lord Himself would do.

So, if people do not want you to help them in certain areas of their lives, you have to let them be. That way, neither they nor God will be able to hold you responsible, if they should fall away from the grace of God. Let us pray.

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From Pastor's Desk 2025 FROM PASTOR’S DESK 2025

Title: What He thinks of us

Series: From Pastor’s Desk

Number: Vol. 14, No. 2

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It gives me great delight welcome you to another week of the month of May 2025 and to also welcome you to our 13th year church anniversary. My prayer is that God will continue to build us up to be all that He wants us to be by the power of His Holy Spirit. Amen.

It is indeed a thing of joy to know that we have been meeting as an assembly in this town for thirteen full years. And we ought to be thankful to God for all that He has done in us, for us and through us in these thirteen years. We also ought to be thankful to Him for all that He is still going to do among us, for us and through us in the year we are just starting as a church. My prayer is that His good works will never cease in our midst, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

But then, as we are celebrating God’s goodness to us today as an assembly, there is something very important that we need to pay attention to. And that what He thinks of us as an assembly. If we ask around, people will have all kinds of things to say about our assembly. And what they say may be pleasant to the ear or not pleasant at all. But we cannot judge how well we are doing as a church on the basis of what people think or say about us.

We cannot even judge how well we are doing on the basis of what we think of ourselves. The only true judgment of how we are doing lies with God. And we all will do well to pray that He will reveal what He thinks about us to us, so that we can give ourselves to functioning accordingly.

As we see in the book of Revelation, the Lord says this about the church in Laodicea:“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” (Rev 3:17-18NIV)

Did you see that? This church thought that it was rich spiritually and in need of nothing. But the Lord said that it was wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. So, the only one who knows the true condition of every church is the Lord Himself. And unless He tells us our condition, we may think we are doing well, when we are actually failing, or think that we are doing poorly, when we are actually doing well in God’s sight.

Therefore, as I said before, let us all give ourselves to praying wholeheartedly that God will reveal to us what He thinks about our assembly, so that we will not be acting on a reputation that we do not have before God and lose our place and our reward in His kingdom. I rejoice with all of us again, as we celebrate another year of God’s faithfulness to us as a church. My prayer is that God will cause us stand firm in all His will for us and also continually cause His favour and mercy to rest upon us. Amen.Happy celebration.